Two movies that have absolutely nothing in common.

In one weekend I saw both “Dawn of the Dead” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

For fun I decided to go to a midnight showing of "Dawn of the Dead” on Saturday night. Midnight shows make scary movies infinitely scarier. I was prepared to watch a good portion of the movie through closed eyes and held breath, or at the very least, to laugh a lot.

The opening was really good. Super fast and scary and fun. But after that I can’t remember being scared again. I do remember fearing for the safety of others, as people continued to text message each other INSIDE THE THEATER until some guy yelled “yeah, one more and that phone goes in your ass!” right in time too, because I was about to kill someone. There was also a considerable amount of both pot smoking and making out going on during the film. I can’t say that I understand it but I can also say that I wasn’t surprised. My final thought, see the original and be scared and smoke weed in your own home.

Oh, and P.S. Hollywood, you don’t need to do anything else to make pregnancy and child birth seem more gross or scary. Thank you.

The next day I met my friends for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ."

This was a movie that I did not want to see originally. I thought it was a really well done trailer. My friend Brandon made me watch that trailer 3 times in a row on his computer until I admitted that it was awesome. But I thought it was like a slick music video, which wasn’t surprising knowing Michel Gondry’s work. I hated “Human Nature,” though. I thought it was a piece of crap that had this tone of "i'm very clever, listen to this clever insight!" It was like listening to a person who thinks they are smarter than every one else, talk. Anyway, I decided early on not to be interested in this movie.

I also think I might hate Charlie Kaufman. Not that everything he does is bad, just that I don’t like him. He was on Charlie Rose last week in a rare television appearance and I can’t tell if he is arrogant or the rest of the world is pushing arrogance on him. It seems to me that he hasn't written that much but is talked about like this hollywood golden boy who everyone can count on for a quirky hit. Here is a dissenting opinion from someone with a lot more personal contact with him than I have had. He did write for "Get a Life" though, and that holds a special place in my heart.

Anyway, by the opening credits I had given in to the movie. I loved it in a way that I rarely love movies. I feel bad writing much about it because I don’t want to hype it too much. The hype curse can kill movies and I want this movie to LIVE. It is very real, and believable and sweet and sad. So I guess I might have to start hating Charlie Kaufman less… for now.